Monkey Pox, a New Problem to Americans

The world has enough problems to worry about, now we introduce a new one.

Now we have a new disease that has hit The Americas, which is in need of being monitored, Monkey Pox. Will this infectious disease become contagious? A contagious disease which did become an epidemic in the 1900’s is smallpox.

Are there any similarities between the two? Monkey pox is an infectious disease cause by monkey pox virus. Monkey pox can be caused by direct contact with infected animals in particular monkeys, or by a person who is infected by monkey pox through body fluids or droplets (Berthet,N, et al.,2021). The disease was first discovered in Africa and through transmission has found its way to the United States of America.

According to The Washington Post, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged doctors to take precautions after a case was spotted in Massachusetts. On the other hand, smallpox has been around for centuries. No direct location for smallpox has been discovered or from which animal. Monkey pox is infectious, but less transmissible than the coronavirus so hopefully monkey pox can be cured and contained before we have an outbreak.

Berthet, N., Descorps-Declère Stéphane, Camille, B., Manon, C., Nkili Meyong, A. A., Benjamin, S., . . . Emmanuel, N. (2021). Genomic history of human monkey pox infections in the central african republic between 2001 and 2018. Scientific Reports (Nature Publisher Group), 11(1) doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92315-8